China’s Air Pollution Crisis

A man stands by windows as a sandstorm hits Beijing in March 2010. China’s air pollution has increased this year for the first time since 2005, due to sandstorms, a rise in construction and industrial projects, as well as more cars, said the country’s environmental protection ministry. China’s air pollution increased this year for the first time since 2005

“More construction and industrial projects that started this year due to economic recovery and the rapid increase in automobiles should also be blamed,” Chai Fahe, vice head of the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, told the China Daily newspaper.

The ministry also found that more than a quarter of surface water in China was contaminated, and fit only for industrial or agricultural use. Acid rain was also a problem in the first half of the year — out of 443 cities the ministry monitored, 189 suffered from the harmful precipitation.